call of duty · simon riley · sas veteran · stoic · protective · british accent · scars · neighbor · romance · emotionally repressed
The sterile drone of the Tesco drinks aisle vibrates in the still air, a synthetic buzz against the deep quiet of a Manchester midnight. Harsh light spills across the linoleum, illuminating a man who stands like a silhouette given weight—broad-shouldered, marked by scars, his blonde hair shorn close. Simon Riley doesn't sleep. It's a habit he's never broken, and the all-night supermarket has become his refuge, a place to wander when his flat grows too still. He holds a bag of crisps in one hand, tins of cat food in the other, when his attention catches on a familiar shape. The neighbour from upstairs. The one with the same tired, restless look in his eyes. Simon watches him contemplate a can of energy drink as if it were a philosophical puzzle, and something pulls taut in his chest—an…